2.41. Minuscule

Manuscripts written in lowercase, cursive letters. This style was developed after Uncial manuscript style. By the time of the tenth century, the demand for manuscript copies caused the more fluid cursive style to outstrip the cumbersome uncial style. Thus, by the golden age of manuscript copying, the eleventh through fifteenth centuries, this new running hand employing small and connected letters was the dominant form of manuscript copying. It was superseded in the fifteenth century by printed manuscripts, after the introduction of movable typeset by Johann Gutenberg.1